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Just Say No To Nuclear In Dunkirk

Bent Flyvbjerg sounds like a made-up detective character in an obscure Danish murder mystery, but he is a very real and very serious person. A Danish economic geographer and professor at the IT University of Copenhagen, he was the inaugural chair of major programme management at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School before returning to Copenhagen. He is a recognized global authority on how best to accomplish large projects from airports to the Olympic Games. Among his many books and articles is the fascinating, How Big Things Get Done, which he co-authored with Dan Gardner. ...

Billionaires Could Soon Face More Taxing Times

Billionaires, beware: Thousands of your countrymen are focusing hard on reining in your riches. All of them, including large numbers of millionaires, want you to pay higher taxes. They want a twenty-first century America with less income inequality and more tax fairness. Something like the America of decades ago, before the laws started leaning toward high-income taxpayers. (And they’re still leaning that way: see the gifts handed out to the rich in the Big Unbeautiful Bill rammed through by the GOP earlier this year.) The posse that’s pursuing billionaires includes tax experts, ...

County Budget Largely ‘Status Quo’ Budget

The tentative 2026 County Budget recently unveiled by the County Executive appears to be largely a status quo budget. The Tentative Budget continues the routine of raising County Real Property Taxes every year by $1,700,000 or so, it keeps County government employment at about 1,200 employees, and foresees no significant improvements or efficiencies in the delivery of County services. It is important to look at the context of this 2026 Tentative Budget. In 2009 County Property Taxes were $54,900,000. In 2024 they were $71,500,000, up 32%. In 2025 County Property Taxes went up again ...

Thus Far, A Quiet Election

This is an “off year” in politics. There are no elections for federal office. That comes next year when there will be elections for Congress. That doesn’t mean that the elections this year are unimportant. Who we elect for County Executive, the County Legislature and other local offices is still important. Local elections give us the opportunity to choose elected officials who are the closest to us, and who operate most of the government that we deal with on a daily basis. Some don’t like them, but I am a big believer in political campaign signs. They remind us of our ...

The Rest Of The Story

As a kid, I remember riding in the truck with my dad, listening to Paul Harvey’s iconic radio segment, “The Rest of the Story.” Harvey’s show was masterful. He’d spin the first half of a tale, often about history or ordinary folks, and just when you thought you had the facts straight, he’d reveal the twist, the context, the “rest of the story” that changed your entire perspective. His premise was simple: behind every headline, every controversy, there’s always a deeper story, a truth that only emerges when you look beyond the surface. Reading the back and forth about ...

Hochul Takes Vow Of Poverty

Governor Kathy Hochul recently endorsed Zorhan Mamdani for New York City Mayor - an endorsement she would not make without being fully on-board with Mamdani’s open support for authoritarian Marxist/Socialist ideology. (As demonstrated earlier, all Socialism, “Democratic” or otherwise, is necessarily totalitarian and authoritarian.) With her endorsement, our Governor must now demonstrate her sincerity through her actions. Governor Hochul must now implement the primary objective of Marx’s Socialism: Seize the means of production (businesses) away from private ownership and bring ...